Straus, Isidor, 1845-1912

<p>Mr Isidor Straus, 67, was born in Rhenish Bavaria on 6th February, 1845. In 1854 he emigrated to the United States settling, with his family, in the town of Talbotton, Georgia. Straus' father (Lazarus Straus) established a dry-goods business called "L. Straus & Company." and Isidor is listed in the 1860 census as being a clerk at this store. Between 1656 and 1861 he was educated at the Collinsworth Institute in Talbotton. In 1862, the Straus family moved to Columbus and Lazarus Straus opened another dry-goods business. Isidor went to work for a company that engaged in blockade running for the Confederate States (it was the time of the American Civil War). After the war, Isidor moved to New York and with his brother Nathan, became involved in the firm of R.H. Macy & Co. Finaly acquiring ownership of the firm in 1896. In addition to his business enterprise he served as a Congressman for New York State between 1895 and 1897.</p>

<p>Early in April 1912 Isidor, his wife Ida and their daughter Beatrice had travelled to Europe on the HAPAG Liner Amerika, it was their custom to travel by German steamer wherever possible.</p>

<p>For their return (Beatrice was absent) they boarded the Titanic at Southampton, travelling with them were Isidor's manservant John Farthing and Ida's newly employed maid Ellen Bird. The Straus's occupied cabins C-55-57 (ticket number PC 17483, £221 15s 7d).</p>

<p>Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was a Bavarian-born American Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives. He died with his wife, Ida, in the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Titanic.</p>

<p>Isidor Straus was born into a Jewish family in Otterberg in the former Palatinate, then ruled by the Kingdom of Bavaria. He was the first of five children of Lazarus Straus (1809–1898) and his second wife and first cousin, Sara Straus (1823–1876). His siblings were Hermine (1846–1922), Nathan (1848–1931), Jakob Otto (1849–1851) and Oscar Solomon Straus (1850–1926). In 1854 he and his family immigrated to the United States, following his father, Lazarus, who immigrated two years before. They settled first in Columbus, Georgia, and then lived in Talbotton, Georgia, where their house still exists today. He was preparing to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point when the outbreak of the American Civil War prevented him from doing so. In 1861, he was elected an officer in a Confederate military unit but was not allowed to serve because of his youth; in 1863, he went to England to secure ships for blockade running.</p>

<p>After the Civil War, they moved to New York City, where Lazarus convinced Rowland Hussey Macy, founder of Macy's, to allow L. Straus & Sons to open a crockery department in the basement of his store.</p>

STRAUS, Isidor, a Representative from New York; born in Otterberg, Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, February 6, 1845; immigrated to the United States in 1854 and settled in Talbotton, Ga.; attended Collinsworth Institute; moved to New York City in 1865 and engaged in mercantile pursuits and later became owner of R.H. Macy and Company; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ashbel P. Fitch and served from January 30, 1894, to March 3, 1895; was not a candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; resumed the mercantile business in New York City; member of the New York and New Jersey Bridge Commission; perished in the wreck of the steamship Titanic on April 15, 1912; the body was subsequently recovered and interred in the family vault in Beth-El Cemetery, Fresh Pond Road, Brooklyn, N.Y.